I just heard about Peach.cool a few weeks ago. I was interviewing Malcolm Griffiths from DCI and I asked him what social media platform he believed was most important to focus on for 2016. He mentioned Instagram, which was no surprise. Then he mentioned Peach.
After a slight pause, I immediately was filled with 50% dread at the thought of learning a new platform and adding it to my daily social media efforts and 50% excitement to check it out.
So, of course I signed up. If you are one of the early adopters and have signed up, please connect with me @writetotravel.com
Malcolm said he saw Peach as a combination of Instagram and Facebook. says it’s a combination of Twitter and Slack, the popular chat and productivity app many companies now use to talk shop.
In a recent article Jaime wrote for Hootesuite.com, he stated if you’re tired of Facebook and want to get in on the ground floor of the next big thing, using Peach is easy—once you figure out how.
Here’s what you need to know about Peach and if it’s worth the time and effort for travel bloggers, travel writers and travel photographers!
What is Peach?
Peach, an app created by the co-founder of Vine, Dom Hofmann, was released on Jan. 8 and already seems to be taking mobile users by storm. There seems to be a lot buzz in blogger circles about Peach and the app has had an incredible amount of downloads in the short time it’s been available. It’s being touted for it’s variety of methods for users to connect and update each other, Peach allows users to be more efficient and creative in their sharing.
It’s description in the App store is as follows:
Peach is a refreshingly fun and simple way to keep up with friends and be yourself. Share tiny updates as you go through your day. Posting is as easy as texting—with a twist. Some words are ‘Magic Words’ that give you quick access to fun and insightful things to share. On Peach, a little says a lot. Easily share pictures, looping photos, videos, and links, along with GIFs, the weather, your current location, what you’re watching tonight, how many steps you walked today, and much more.
How to find friends
One of the biggest issues I have had with Peach since I signed up is finding friends. The only way to find friends is if you know their user name or by syncing your iPhone contact list. I posted on several of my social accounts asking to connect with any friends signed up as well as in many Facebook groups and I found less than 5 friends who are currently signed up.
The user interface is a little strange—your stream lists your friends and lets you know if they have a new post, but you have to tap on their name to see it. It’s like if your Facebook News Feed consisted of your entire friends list, and you had to tap on each name to see their Timeline. Hopefully Peach makes this more manageable.
You can search for people by username, if you happen to know it, sort of like Snapchat. But you can’t follow people you don’t know—you have to wait for them to accept your friend request before you can view their posts.
The next big obstacle is that their is no centralized feed. You can see activity of your friends such as waves, if they liked your post, etc., but to see their posts, you need to head to the individual feeds.
What to post, and how
The best part about Peach is what you post and how. The app uses what it calls “magic words,” which are shortcuts you enter in the text box.
* Need inspiration for what to post? Tap the lightbulb for new ideas every day.
* Let someone know you’re thinking of them by sending a wave, slice of cake, 100, boop, kiss, hiss, and more.
* Use the magic word “shout” to write a few words (+ emoji) in BIG letters on a background color.
* Use “draw” to post a doodle or sketch.
* Use “song” to share whatever’s playing right now. Friends can tap on the song to open it in Apple Music or Spotify.
* The magic word “rate” lets you give anything—anything!— a 1-5 star rating.
* Other magic words: gif, here, goodmorning, goodnight, battery, weather, move, meetings, safari, dice, time, date, movie, tv, and game.
For example if you type in the word “shout,” it lets you add giant text over a plain background or a photo from your camera roll.
If you don’t know where to start, tap the lightbulb to the left of the text box. Peach will pop up prompts to answer, like “What’s the last thing you drank?” ot “There’s nothing better than fresh ______________”
Bottom Line
Is this worth the time and effort travel bloggers, travel writers and travel photographers? I think it truly depends on how the platform grows and how many travel and tourism brands and businesses jump on board. If Malcolm is right, and this becomes the next hottest social media platform, you’ll probably find yourself playing with Peach!
A good summary of Peach, Alexa. This is one form of Social Media that I’ll wait to see if and how well it takes off. It seems clumsy and overly complex, with extra steps & hurdles. My intuition screams “wait & see” on this one. Thanks for the summary.
Wow, I had not even heard of this one. Definitely going to keep an eye open for Peach, and its users. Good summary, thanks for taking the time.
I’m definitely not ready to tackle another social media platform, but it’s good to know about. I’m interested to see how quickly it will take off and if it’ll stick as one of the big players for bloggers to use.
I chuckled at your comment about dread….I feel like I have my hands full with the few social media platforms I use!! But….there is always room to learn about the latest and greatest thing! Thanks for the info!
I haven’t heard of Peach before this. Thanks for the great article! I’m definitely not ready to learn another social media platform… still haven’t gotten the hang of the current ones haha.
Thanks for bringing this one up – helps keeping tab on what’s new!